Untitled I to VI

'Untitled I-VI’ is a series of six photographs arranged as two triptychs made in 2004 and first exhibited in ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’ as part of the Institute of Contemporary Art’s/South London Gallery’s programme of basing exhibitions on literary works. Al-Ani’s point of departure was the indifference shown to his surrounding by Jules Verne’s literary character Phileas Fogg as he went about his epic journey.

‘Untitled I-VI’ depicts two photographic triptychs of desert landscapes. They present what is left behind on the land during the current era of contestations arising from global economic and geopolitical interests. It continues her interest in the historic and contemporary representation of Orientalism. While the Orientalist imagination suggests deserts to be open spaces of sand dunes and lush oases traversed by nomadic travellers, Al-Ani set out to show a different view of these populated but frequently hostile places. Furthermore, she aimed to question the consumption of natural and human resources in what was Phileas Fogg’s ultimately senseless journey by foregrounding how a resource such as water is in short supply by the humans and animals who share the desert in a delicately weighed balance.

‘Around the World in Eighty Days’ was a group exhibition at the two venues which are situated on sites which have witnessed migration and other forms of visitor occupation, 24th May-16 July 2006. Other exhibitors included Mona Hatoum, Yinka Shonibare and Erika Tan.

Jananne Al-Ani
Current Research
'The Aesthetics of Disappearance; A Land Without People', this engages with the disappearance of the body in contested and highly charged landscapes in the Middle East.

• http://www.lcc.arts.ac.uk/60950.htm
• http://www.luxonline.org.uk/artists/jana...
• http://www.janannealani.net/
• http://www.lcc.arts.ac.uk/60948.htm
• http://www.lcc.arts.ac.uk/60949.htm
• http://www.ti3.org.uk/jananne.htm
• http://www.lcc.arts.ac.uk/60951.htm
• http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitio...